Ali Baba and 25 billion
This year on Black FridayAlibaba Group Holding Ltd. broke all sales records, selling goods worth 168.2 billion yuan (25.3 billion US dollars).
The well-known monster of online sales managed to achieve this result by working with traditional market retailers of iPhones and refrigerators for customers from more than 225 countries and regions.
In addition, to promote their products, the Chinese company organized a gala concert, which was attended by movie stars Nicole Kidman and popular American rapper Pharrell Williams. Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, Daniel Zhang, said that the company wants to make the event more global and plans to organize a gala concert abroad next time.
Black Friday, the traditional annual day of the largest sales, led to a 39% increase in sales volumes. The promotion helped at least 82 brands achieve revenue of 100 million yuan. Among the leaders in sales are such well-known companies as Nike Inc., Xiaomi Corp. and Uniqlo Co.
According to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., about 90 percent of purchases on this day were made via mobile phones. During rush hour, the company's processors processed about 256,000 transactions per second.
Black Friday is also known as Singles Day and is a kind of response to Valentine's Day on February 14th. The holiday is used as an excuse to make long-delayed purchases and trips to entertainment shows.